Nice trip and very nice report!I promised to provide a write-up of my recent trip to France, so here goes:
Practicality
There were 4 adults in the car, travelling for a boating holiday on the rivers & canals near Dijon, and the car impressively fitted a decent size bag each, plus various additional bags with provisions, games etc. There was still more space in the car for extra bags too.
I bought the Sport Turismo to replace my RS4 Avant and it easily passed its first real test.
Comfort and driving
My car has the 18-way seats which i find very comfortable, as did everyone who sat in the front during the trip. However the same was true for those in the rear, even when sitting behind me (I’m 6’2”) there was no complaint of being cramped. Stops were scheduled around charging points, not because people needed to get out and stretch their legs!
We spent the majority of the time in Normal mode, so a fairly relaxed set-up and with Sports sound off and the acoustic glass, the interior was very quiet, even at 130kmh+ on the French autoroutes. The car is super easy to drive on motorways and with ACC it is a relaxing and effortless experience.
I had downloaded a free trial of Innodrive, so it was interesting to experiment with this (I had already been using it for a while before this trip), although I won’t be paying to keep it once the trial has ended. The lane keep assist is very clever, but the fact that you have to keep tweaking the wheel every 20-30 seconds means it is nothing like the Tesla Autopilot, and is not something I’ll miss when the trial ends. That said, I bought the car to drive, not to be a passenger in, so this isn’t something I’m bothered by.
Practical issues
It was easy to change the units from miles to kilometres and the lights changing automatically when driving on the continent is a useful feature.
Charging
Thanks to the advice on here, I had a good idea of where I wanted to stop en-route, and I was keen to maximise charging at Ionity chargers, given the Porsche charging card provides discounted rates.
Charge #1
I briefly used the Tesla charger at Folkestone to top up to 100% before getting on the Shuttle, to maximise flexibility for the rest of the trip. This was my first experience of using a Tesla charger and it worked seamlessly in conjunction with the app. There were plenty of spare stalls, but it was around 6am!
Charge #2
We stopped at Ionity Baralle which was very quiet and the Porsche charge card worked seamlessly. A quick toilet and drink stop and we were back on our way with >90% charge. We were the only car charging (c. 10:30am).
Charge #3
We stopped at Ionity Champfleury which was also fairly quiet, with just 1 other stall being used (12.30pm) and again the Porsche chargecard worked seamlessly. We had a quick lunch here and the car was at 100% when we were ready to leave.
Charge #4
We stopped at Ionity Langres-Perrogney with the intention of adding sufficient charge to get to the destination and back again. Once again, the Porsche charge was seamless and charging was at 150kw+. There was one other car charging when we were there (3.30pm).
Charge #5
Prior to our return trip, I decided to drive to a nearby Fastned charger, as I had some spare time and wanted to test out the app. Fastned (Aire de Pont Chene d’Argent) has a great set-up with loads of room to park the car and fast chargers. Using the app was extremely easy and I was the only car there (3.30pm).
Charge #6
We stopped at Ionity Langres-Noidant where 3 out of the 4 stalls were being used (10:30am). we initially went the wrong way and nearly missed the chargers, having to do a U-turn back through the lorry park the wrong way!)
Unfortunately the charger just wouldn’t connect to the car and despite Ionity re-booting the stall (and asking me to unlock my car, wind down all of the windows and then put them back up!!) it still did not work. Someone else (VW ID4) was having similar issues with another stall. After 1pm ins or so, one of the other chargers became free and I was able to charge without issue. Interestingly an EV Mustang was able to charge at the stall where the ID4 could not, and there was a BMW hybrid that was able to charge where I could not.
Ionity were very apologetic about the problems I was experiencing.
Charge #7
Another stop at Ionity Champfleury (1.05pm) while we had lunch, got us back to 100% and sufficient charge to make it back to Calais. Although lunchtime, there were still only 2 chargers being used when we arrived.
Charge #8
Rather than use the Tesla chargers at Eurotunnel, Calais, we decided to make a quick stop at Fastned (Aire de Sant Hilaire Cottes) for a toilet stop, which then provided sufficient charge to get to our destination in the UK without needing any further stops. The Fastned charger was again easy to use with the app and has plenty of space to park without encroaching on the other stalls.
With the one exception, charging was a seamless experience, and on only one occasions were the stalls close to full. In part this will be because we were travelling in a Wednesday and I suspect that things could be more problematic at weekends.
Other
The Emovis tag made the toll roads extremely straightforward - in the majority of cases the green light came on well before we arrived at the barrier and we went through without issue. On one occasion we stopped close to barrier but the light did not come on. Based on previous experience, we thought we were too close, and as there was no traffic, we reversed back to try again. As it turned out, we had not actually got close enough to this particular barrier and as we went further on, the green light came on and the barrier opened. We learnt from this for future toll booths!
Overall
The Taycan continues to impress and I’m very pleased with the choice I made. The car handles beautifully and the Porsche DNA is clear to see. That said, the car is big, wide and heavy, so while the high power/torque can compensate to some extent, it isn’t a sports car. Sports sound or not, you just don’t have the emotional sounds and involvement that you do with an ICE car, so I’m hoping to get another GT3 to satisfy the requirement for fun weekend drives.
Happy to answer any other questions about the trip!
It does when you activate plug and charge for Fastned. Then you pay the Fastned price. With the Porsche card at Fastned you pay less. Fastned plug and charge is really fast and easy to use. Faster than Ionity
Winter tires are not legally required in Switzerland, like in some French alpine regions. However if you are in an accident you need to prove your car was road worthy. And with summer tires in the winter you are not. Plus what @tigerbalm mentioned about chains. And I would never drive without winter tires in snow and cold wheater.
And I have the Fastned mac based plug & charge activated. I never did the maths and didn't appreciate that Porsche Charging Service prices actually won out in that case. I think based on this, I'll de-activate Fastned plug & charge in the app and tap the Porsche card next time I'm there.
Fastned didn’t have a contract with Porsche charging in the beginning. Fastned wouldn’t even show on the map and pcm. I also used Fastned Plug and charge and it works better than with Ionity. I only found out about the price difference (double) a couple of months ago and deactivated plug and charge.
It's a little annoying that Porsche Charging Service doesn't have a clear list of the networks they support.
Sadly this isn't the case. In the UK most if not all Shell chargers are shown on the app but are not supported. Porsche UK say that these now belong to another network provider with whom they do not have a relationship and they are "unable" to figure out which.
Correct. Maybe the UK is different. I visited Brighton this summer and also found about the lamppost chargers. 300 chargers available but non usable. Chargers in Canterbury and Dover showed in the app but I was unable to activate them with any of my 6 RFID cards and because of bad 4G coverage I couldn’t use the app. Some work in progress I guess.
I agree, it should be freely available. However, when I asked the question, Porsche UK helpfully sent me this list of networks compatible with the Porsche Charge card. View attachment 58920
Oh that is useful. Could you try the attachment again, seems to be zero bytes.
Sorry, it should be above now.
